


cattleya, convolvulus, milk vetches;

by diluc



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akechi Goro Lives, First Dates, Flower Language, Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Post-Persona 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:00:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24098461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diluc/pseuds/diluc
Summary: At this point, Akira can only hope Akechi would understand the yearning he tries to deliver in the flower batch; with that, he stands on the train platform, waiting faithfully for his ride to Kichijoji.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 4
Kudos: 69





	cattleya, convolvulus, milk vetches;

**Author's Note:**

> THIS WAS WRITTEN AT 4 AM AND NOT PROOFREADEN EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK

For the first time in several years, Kurusu Akira was nervous. He doesn’t even need to question the reasoning for this - of course it’s the goddamn Akechi Goro! The stupid guy he wants to both punch and kiss, - the latter covet prevails, to his own chagrin, - the stupid guy who is _still_ alive after the ruses and the Hell he’s been through and put others through, the stupid guy whom Akira had been infatuated with for the past few years. 

“Ann,” he calls his friend over LINE, “did you finish the essay for Professor Omura?” 

The phone screen illuminates a selfie of Ann, likely put through a few masks on that stupid Snow app, judging by the cat ears awkwardly plastered over the picture. “Yeah, why? You need help?”  
He shakes his head instinctively, aware of the futility of this gesture. “Nah. I just got some errands to do. Leblanc.” Ah, fuck. He’s lying now; and he knows, in the back of his head, that Takamaki will ask Futaba about everything that had happened in the cafe, and they’ll find out it wasn’t the truth. Well, that was not the utmost of his troubles at the moment - Akechi had rubbed off on him with the white lies, it seems. “Can you please just send me your outline, if it’s okay? I don’t wanna copy, just see how you did it.”

“Alright, I’m doing it. Good luck, bye!”  
“Bye,” the phone rings, and his head goes hollow as he stares at the screen.

**Akechan~~~**

(What a hideous, horrendous nickname, Akira thinks; he’s so proud he has made it up on his own.)

 _heyyyyyy meet u @ that jazz club if u wanna?_ **12:32 pm**

 _in 2 hrs_ **12:32 pm**

 _i mean if u wanna,,,, hehe_ **12:32 pm**

Shit. He’s being too clingy, is he? Why wasn’t he scared of the public and Yaldabaoth, but scared of a simple crush, or a concept of dating in college? 

_Surely now. Good day, by the way._ **12:40 pm**

 _I can make it. See you there._ **12:40 pm**

So Akechi wasn’t ghosting him; good to know. Now, he’s read a dozen books on charm and pick-up lines - there is nothing he’d fail at.

 _its a date then :)_ **12:41 pm**

What the hell. What the _hell_ did he just type, and why? He doubts Akechi would despise him any more after everything they had been through, - and oh goodness, that sounds like they have dated. Akira tries not to faint at the notion and mentally curses himself, - so ideally their meeting would be neither postponed nor cancelled entirely. 

_It is. :)_ **12:42 pm**

He’s dying. There is no way this is true.  
But if it wasn’t, there would also be no way he is currently trying his best to appear approachable or more charming than he actually is. He knows Akechi wouldn’t appreciate the notion, for they had known the depths of each others’ personalities during their games of cat-and-mouse as well as the alternate reality and whatnot. _How come we weren’t dating, to start college off with,_ he thinks; the relief that flooded his heart upon seeing Goro alive and reachable in reality never washed out of his cognition, unlike the aggression he felt about that same event. Akechi would always say: _“I wonder how much of a fool you are, simply forgiving me after all the time. After I was supposed to kill you.”_ and Kurusu would just grin like the complete and utter ignoramus he is. On numerous occasions his fellow Phantom Thieves would call out his selflessness, and over the past few years he had come to recognize it, too; the detective himself had once even asked Akira to take better care of himself, during one of their Penguin Sniper rendez-vous(-and-totally-not-dates); although caught off guard, the bespectacled young man felt it was not such a sentiment in a negative way. It was, indeed, very much the opposite.

He leaves Mona behind in his dorm room with a little catnip - “ _Aw, come on, your meeting mustn’t be that important, right? ...Fine, I’ll just hang arou- mrreeeoooww!”_ \- and rushed, as fast as he could, towards the underground mall. Rafflesia expanded a little during the year he spent back in Inaba, but Hanasaki still managed it. She greeted him warmly and with a polite bow, although exclaiming she missed him, calling his name, and chattering about how happy she was to see him.  
“Hello, Hanasaki-san,” he hastily bows back, hair disheveled. “I am looking for some cattleya orchids.”  
She asks no questions, yet he notices her eyes growing a tad large. It can’t be helped, he believes; she hands him a bouquet of crimson orchids, their fragrance thin and relaxing. “Oh, um… and if it is alright, may I get some pink convolvulus flowers? Milk vetches, too.”

“Kurusu-kun,” she smiles at him gently, handing over flowers to mix in with the bouquet. The flame-crimson of the cattleyas and the vividly gentle pinks of the other flowers mix in his mind; he knows the meanings of the blossoms well, especially after working at this flower shop. Besides, he had been well-prepared for this in advance, no matter how cheesy it is. “This comes to 2500 yen.”  
He hands over the money and revels in the aroma - at this point, Akira can only hope Akechi would understand the yearning he tries to deliver in the flower batch. With that, he stands on the train platform, waiting faithfully for his ride to Kichijoji.

The place where they meet is almost empty, save for a few staff members dozing off.  
“Hello there, Kurusu-kun,” Goro’s smile has softened over the years; now, the ghost of the pretentious detective prince all but lingers. His mouth, although as sharp, has forgone its clear-cut shape, and now is gentle over the edges. His eyes, too, sparkle with something that still hides the madness within him - albeit it does not disregard his true nature. Ever since Akechi had shown his true self more and more, revealing the layers of his personality as portions of skin, Kurusu had found himself falling for the young man further and further. “Oh, wow, some flowers? Did you get a date just to show off in front of me?”  
“Not everything I do is for showing off, especially to you,” Akira sticks his tongue out playfully; Akechi scoffs cattily. “Anyways! I… have something to tell you.”

The once-detective’s hair, brushed back delicately and tied into a small bun, sticks out a little after he touches it instinctively. Akira tries his best not to blush, or comment on this. “Oh? Do tell me.”

Feeling like a jester at the scrutiny of their love interest, he sighs and bows his head before Akechi, sitting at the opposite side of the coffee table. He thinks he notices Goro gasp a little, and yet it is too telltale to pinpoint the reality of the fact. Everything involving this guy, thinks Akira, is hard to classify as a truth or a lie. Akechi had taught him to see in greys, rather than blacks and whites. “This is for you. Cattleyas, pink convoluli, and milk vetches.”  
“Was I supposed to understand anything of that?”

Akira chuckles a little; damn this guy, especially his true self when at relative peace, for being so easy to fall in love with. “Orchids, bindweeds, and milk vetches. They’re flowers, geez.”  
“Well, what do they signify?” It seems Akechi still finds this a jape of sorts, and to say this hits Akira in the heart is to say nothing. After all, Goro always did push his limits, so he exclaims:  
“A mature elegance; the worth sustained by a judicious and- and soft affection,” he recites the things he had to memorize in high school, “...and, your presence… softens my pains. That’s what they mean,” he doesn’t realize when did he start gasping for air, or when did his head begin feeling like a balloon on the verge of popping. The blood-red eyes across from his met Akira’s gaze, and he felt his heart stutter like he just did; Akechi exhaled and inhaled, - a technique by his therapist, no less, - and then-

Goro stands up and embraces the curly young man; albeit initially reluctant, his composure seemed to soften when Akira melted into the hug. “We both need this,” Goro exhales, and Akira is in love. Is his mind playing tricks on him? “A hug, I mean.” His laugh brings fireworks to Kurusu’s already throbbing chest, and _damn_ when did he manage to get it so bad? Falling in love with Akechi Goro felt like being knocked out in the best way possible.

The chestnut-haired man continues, “I am not sure of your intentions with this bouquet. I am also unsure as to how I should reply, but…”

“It means-” Akira feels like a stupid shoujo protagonist, with the batch of flowers still in his hand, as he gasps out, “that I love you!”  
A few waiters yawn behind the counter, and off-beat music plays softly on the speakers. Neither young man speaks, for a while, and Akira believes this to be the most suspenseful and awkward moment of his entire life, which is ending right now. Alright, there is no backing out of this one- he had dug his own grave, and there is no return. 

That is, until Akechi stares up at him, face faltering and weak for a single second, “I don’t know if we can keep this a stable relationship,” the thought sends butterfly knives through Kurusu’s stomach, “yet I… the notion, ahem, is requited.”  
Akira spends no time, and wastes none either; embracing Akechi, he feels his heart at ease all of a sudden. “So my charm _did_ work!”  
“Oh, shut up,” Akechi giggles, pulling him into a kiss so delicate Akira feels it echo in his bones.

The manager is asleep behind the establishment’s counter.

**Author's Note:**

> FEED ME ON TWT @ mugemugemoo


End file.
